


The Prince and the Puzzle

by MajorGodComplex



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Humor, M/M, it's not a shrek au but if you can imagine that tone you're on the right track, yes this is absolutely a moonriver fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 12:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14670792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorGodComplex/pseuds/MajorGodComplex
Summary: It began as a sort of idle curiosity, with Near awaking from the first dream of him with nothing but a memory of soft hair, pixie dust, and vague satisfaction. The next night, he remembered a bit more. He remembered a hand reaching out to him, and a soft voice giving a message. The next night he was prepared, and every night after that he dreamed the same dream.Light is stuck in a tower. Near comes to save him.





	The Prince and the Puzzle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NOT_TOWA_WAKASA](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NOT_TOWA_WAKASA/gifts).



> I just found this and I don't remember writing it. Apparently it was written in 2015 for tumblr user mrskandykane? So like, it's very "2015 Meg Writing" and I guess we're about to find out what that's like. Besides, the world needs more moonriver anyway.

The dream was almost like a puzzle to him, and thus he dedicated all possible time and energy to solving it.

It began as a sort of idle curiosity, with Near awaking from the first dream of him with nothing but a memory of soft hair, pixie dust, and vague satisfaction. The next night, he remembered a bit more. He remembered a hand reaching out to him, and a soft voice giving a message. The next night he was prepared, and every night after that he dreamed the same dream.

“There’s something to it!” He insisted when Mello told him to forget about it. “You’re saying it’s nothing more than a dream because you lack the reasoning abilities to actually puzzle through things like this. But if you can’t solve the puzzle, if you can’t win the game—“

“Then you’re nothing but a loser.” Mello finished his sentence with a sigh. “I know, you’ve said that a thousand times. In my opinion, you’re a loser no matter what you do, Near, so why bother with some stupid made up dream you have about a stupid bloke you’re in love with.”

“I never said I was in love with him,” Near said, placing a card on the tower he was building. And with that, he was finished with the conversation. Mello shrugged and left him to it, knowing that once Near checked out, there was no continuing the conversation.

Near’s behavior used to drive Mello insane when they were younger. Technically speaking, Mello was just a bit further in line for the throne than Near was, simply based on age. Still, just the fact that Near always seemed to be  _better_ than Mello at all their academic pursuits, all the games they’ve played, and anything strategic had always driven Mello off the wall. Sure, when it came to physical endeavors Near was absolutely no match for Mello, but in the end kings rarely had to leave their thrones. The throne was all just a game, really.

And yes, Near had given a lot of time to whether or not he wanted the throne. Prince Lawliet was the oldest, and thus the first in line to be king. Mello idolized his brother, and once or twice the thought had crossed Near’s mind that perhaps the only thing stopping Mello from planning to kill everyone when he grew up to take the throne was Mello’s blind love for his brother. Near did not feel such devotion. Of course he loved his family. He loved them in a way that had always been hard for him to express.

What Mello didn’t understand about Near is that thought Near would make an excellent king, Near always strove for excellence just for the sake of excellence. He never  _tried_ to be the best, he simply  _was_ , and though he admired Lawliet, he never doubted his ability to surpass his brother.

But in the end, politics is all about making friends, which, unfortunately, is something Near was never good at.  

_Everything was dark and cold and lonely….so lonely…_

_No, not just dark,_ dirty.  _The blackness wasn’t just in the air, it was covering every surface, oozing over him and threatening to ruin even the garments he wore. He could feel it, he could feel it, he could feel it, he could feel it. It was a darkness that he could feel and he needed it gone._

_But then, in the darkness there was a light. It started small, just a tiny bright dot in the air, and soon the light consumed everything around him. A hand reached through. Near grabbed it, and suddenly everything was white and pure again. He heard a voice, but he couldn’t place it. He looked up, and there he was._

_Soft hair. Pixie dust. Satisfaction._

But of course Near wasn’t  _in love_ with some person he’d only seen in a dream, because that was ridiculous. It was completely illogical to fall into  _that_ sortof love with a…a…  _feeling_ , wasn’t it? The only people who fall in a deep romantic love with non-tangible things were insane men, and Third Prince Nate River of Kilride was certainly not insane.

So then why was he embarking on an official quest to finally solve the dream once and for all?

He hated his obsessive need for answers sometimes, but he just couldn’t stand another night of that  _feeling_ without knowing the truth behind it.

He was 18 years old, he was never going to be king, and it was not his fault he took four hundred gold coins out of the vault to pay the most expensive dream interpreter in the four kingdoms.

He crept past the stable guards, carefully picking his prized white stallion to ride on for the journey. He quickly fed her an apple, and took special note to fire the stable guards when he got back.

After twenty leagues of tireless riding, he finally approached a sketchy looking shack that he’d heard (via vague word of mouth) belonged to the dream interpreter. He had barely tied his horse around the tree when the door of the shack flew open to reveal an ugly, slightly balding man.

“I have the answers you seek!” The man yelled, waving his arms in the air and giving off a not-very-menacing chuckle. He noticed how unimpressed Near was, and gestured for the prince to wait as he went back inside for a second.

“Dammit!” The man cursed, kicking something inside. Fog started to slowly spread through the door.

“Are you okay?” Near asked, more out of politeness than an intent to help.

“I’m fine,” The man grumbled, “I was just really expecting this fog machine to work. It’s an important part of my aesthetic, you understand? Oh never mind that, you look like you’ve traveled a ways. In you go, in you go! Take a seat!” He ushered Near inside and slammed the door.

Near glanced at the seating options available to him, and after deciding none were good enough, sat himself down on the floor instead.

“Er, or not then.”

“Sorry.”

“Quite alright, quite alright. I’m Marv, in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Right.”

“I’m just here about a dream I had?”

“Of course!” Marv said, taking a seat on the floor across from Near. “How much money do you have?”

“What?” Near asked, surprised at the place’s poor service.

Marv recovered quickly. “I meant…tell me about this dream?”

Near quickly explained the entire thing to him, then showed him the vast amounts of gold he had brought with him as payment. Marv’s eyes glittered with excitement upon seeing all the money.

“Right, here’s the deal kid. You might think this dream was all about you, what with the darkness and the person saving you from it and all that shit, but that’s the farthest from the truth.”

“What?” Near asked, surprised.

“What you’re rememberin’ is only  _half_ the dream, and I know that because I know exactly the place your dream is set in. There’s a tower imbedded deep in the forest, and in that tower lives a princess…”

“Oh no, not one of these stories,” Near said, ready to get up and leave.

“Uh uh uh, stay right where you are. You’ve paid good money, allow me to finish interpreting your dream. It’s a literal vision being sent to you, actually. You’re being called to. Someone wants your help. When you reach the tower in the forest, you will find darkness like you could never imagine, yes, but do not be alarmed. It is not the same darkness you think of. A light will come from above, yes, but it is also a different sort of light than you would expect.”

“Thank you for interpreting my dream, but I believe I’ll pass.” Near was ready to pass the whole thing off as nonsense and pay someone else to do the same job. Maybe he’d have to go to Innisfall for it, which wouldn’t be ideal, but he would do it.

“So you will be content to live the rest of your life without every knowing the truth behind your feeling? The softness, the magic, and above all else, the feeling?”

_How did he…?_

“I’ll go.” Near said, voice suddenly growing determined. Even if it sounded like utter hogwash, he had to solve the puzzle. He had to.

So Marv gave him a map, and Near thanked the non-existent deities that the moons were full and bright.

As he traveled through the forest, Near began to realize that this night had been a longer one than he’d planned on having.

_Do I really want to save a princess tonight?_

He supposed there was something off. Most teenage princes dream of having a quest as grand as saving a princess from a tower, but now here he was in the dead of night stuck doing it just because he wanted some closure to this ridiculous dream he’d been having.

Here he was, thinking he was about to get saved, and all of a sudden he finds out  _he’s_ the one supposed to do all the saving. There was something inherently unjust about that.

A laugh rippled through the night, and his white hairs stood on end.

Brambles before him began to slowly part, revealing a huge tower with one huge winding stairway lining the outside of it. Standing at the foot of the stairs was a creature with huge black wings and empty eyes, throwing its head back towards the sky to let loose its hideous laughter.

“Has the little albino prince come to save the day?” The creature laughed, doing a tiny jig in its place.

“No.” Near responded, “He hasn’t”

The creature stopped, dropping the menacing act completely. “Huh? What do you mean by that? You’re not going to try to climb the tower?”

“You’re supposed to be the darkness, aren’t you? You’re the darkness, and the light is above you.”

“Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk, you’re smarter than I gave you credit for. How do you know about Light?”

“I’ll tell you if you let me up that staircase.”

“Sorry little prince, no can do.” The creature laughed again, and Near began to grow annoyed with it. Now that the thing had lost its horror routine the novelty of it was wearing thin.

“But I need to—“

“Wait,” The creature said, gesturing to Near’s horse.

Near turned around to see that the stallion had gotten into his bag of stuff and began to eat one of the apples he had packed for later.

The creature took a few steps towards the horse. “If you let me eat it I will let you up the stairs.”

“I’m not going to let you eat my horse, that’s just stupid.”

“I don’t want your smelly horse! I want the apples, give me the apples!”

“Well…that’s unexpected…” Near mumbled to himself. Louder, he said “feel free to take however many apples you want from that bag. I’ll be upstairs.”

Having conquered the disappointingly anticlimactic darkness in the most mundane way, he began to climb the tower. He busted down the door, expected to be flooded with a rush of light and the most glorious feeling! Instead….

All he had was a boy sitting on a bed, reading some sort of book.

“Not now, Ryuk, I’m reading.”

Near took a few steps forward.

Somehow…something about the entire situation felt  _right._

“Hold on, you’re not Ryuk.” The boy lowered his book to his lap.

“Light…”

“How do you know my name? What did you do with Ryuk?”

Desperate to make sure he was the one, Near reached out and touched Light’s hair.  _The softest feeling in the world._ He looked in the boys eyes to find that they looked almost like pixie dust.

“Don’t touch me,” Light said, shoving Near to the ground. “Who the hell are you and why are you in my tower?”

Near stood up quickly, brushing off his white robes. He resisted the temptation to play with his hair, his usual answer to stressful situations. He crossed his arms instead, an unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling, yet one he knew from studying body language showed confidence.

“You should be more grateful toward the prince who has come to save you.”

“Prince? Saving  _me_?“ Light said in a tone of faux surprise, looking around as if searching for someone. “Where might I find him?”

“You’re not funny. I’ve traveled a good three hours for this.”

“Ooh! Three hours! An incredible stretch of time. I’m amazed, really. I, the boy who has been trapped in a tower since he was merely 12 years old, could never imagine waiting for something for a whole  _three hours._ Funny, I thought when I’d used dream magic to summon me royalty I’d get someone decent. It’s bad enough I have to be swept off my feet to break the spell in the first place, but now it’s by some 16 year old with a hero complex?”

“I’m 18,” Near replied, trying not to be shaken by the news that the message had been a more general broadcast, and not something specifically for him.

_There goes the secret hope it meant you were special._

“Right, right, of course.”

“You know,” Near said, beginning to grow tired of Light’s disrespectful attitude. “I’m not sure if you know who I am  _princess_ , but I’m the Third Prince of Kilride, the richest and currently most powerful out of all four kingdoms. I don’t know or care who you are, you will respect me.”

The whole time he had been speaking he had been slowly taking steps closer and closer to Light, and finally he slammed Light up against the wall.

“Apologize.” He demanded.

“I don’t apologize,” Light spat back.

“Apologize.” Near demanded once more, slamming Light’s head up against the wall.

Light let out a small cry, obviously having a very low pain tolerance. “Then I guess you haven’t heard…” Light laughed dryly.

“Heard what?”

“Heard why I’m locked up.”

And suddenly, Light’s beautiful pixie dust eyes were a terrifying blood red. Near backed off immediately, drawing his sword slowly.

Light laughed cruelly, summoning some kind of darkness to his fingertips. Near couldn’t tell if the darkness was appearing, or if everything else was disappearing. Light took a step closer to Near, attempting to close the gap left when Near jumped back.

“Light?” Near asked, tone going softer.

Light’s laugh only grew more twisted. “Light’s not here anymore! Kira’s come to play, and Kira doesn’t like it when people try to take away his Light.”

Ah, an evil second personality with dark magic, a completely worthy reason to be locked up.

Tendrils of darkness began to expand from Kira’s fingertips, wrapping around Near slowly, drawing him nearer and nearer.

He was frozen in place, allowing himself to be dragged forth by the darkness.

Everything was dark and cold and lonely….so lonely…

No, not just dark, dirty. The blackness wasn’t just in the air, it wasn’t just coming from Kira, it was beginning to cover every surface, oozing over him and threatening to ruin even the garments he wore. He could feel it, he could feel it, he could feel it, he could feel it. It was a darkness that he could feel and he needed it gone.

But then, in the darkness he remembered Light. He remembered his dream. There is Light. There is always Light, and all he had to do was find it. He was practically pressed up against Kira now, and the darkness was surrounding them both. A hand reached through, and Near knew it was Kira’s hand searching for his throat to wrap the darkness around even that.

A hand reached through…a hand reached through…

All he needed to do was get to Light. Light was in there somehow, and he was supposed to find him, the Light was supposed to come to him and save him and bring him out of this darkness but—

But no. The light wasn’t supposed to save him from the darkness,  _he_ was supposed to save  _Light_ from darkness. He reached up, stroking Light’s soft hair in his final breaths. He pushed himself up just a bit further, pressing his cold lips against Ki—no, Light’s lips within the darkness.

_Satisfaction._

Suddenly, the air cleared and Light fell to the ground. He looked down at himself, and looked back up at Near.

“Did…did you kiss me?”

“Yes. Yes I did.”

“True love’s kiss breaks the spell. Did you know this?”

“I do now,” Near responded.

Light grinned, and slowly rose to his feet.

“I—“

Before Light could speak, Near shoved him against the wall again, pinning his arms against his sides. “Please,” He said, “I’ve had enough of you trying to grab at me.”

Near leaned in and finished the kiss he started, leaving absolutely no space between the two of them.

After a few minutes, Light broke to the side, gasping for air a bit. “I have to tell you a secret…”

“Yes?”

“I’m not actually a princess.”

Near laughed. “I had that one figured out, thanks. My sexuality has never been a huge stumbling block, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, I mean…” Light dropped his voice to a whisper, “I’m not actually royalty at all. I just…I just act like it.”

Near shut him up with a kiss again, before kissing all the way down Light’s neck. Light shivered, despite himself. “Don’t worry,” He said, grinning against Light’s mouth, “Stick with me, and you’ll be a princess soon enough.”

Down below, the annoying laugh of a Shinigami could be heard.

“Humans are  _so_ interesting!”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope nat's okay


End file.
